


When You Were Young

by more_concept_than_reality



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Bookstore AU, Comfort/Angst, Complicated Relationships, Hot Angry Sex, Hot Sex, Love/Hate, M/M, Teen Angst, annoying!Frank, start off hating each other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-09
Updated: 2015-02-02
Packaged: 2018-02-28 19:16:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2744048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/more_concept_than_reality/pseuds/more_concept_than_reality
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gerard Way had known Frank Iero for years. Gerard knew he would be trouble from the start.</p><p>God, Gerard hated Frank.</p><p>A few years down the road and Gerard bumps into Frank - he sees another side to the punk asshole he used to know.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be my first work I'm posting here (but not my first fic, I've been writing for years) I hope you enjoy.

Gerard remembered the day Mikey brought Frank home.

He was in his room, colouring in vampires like any other semi-normal fourteen-year-old, when he heard the front door slam shut followed by the sound of light footsteps tapping on the hard wooden floors of the hallways and high-pitched giggling.

Gerard stopped colouring the blood dripping from his vampire's mouth as he dropped his red crayon - Mikey wasn't alone. And Mikey _never_ brought people home with him.

Gerard couldn't help his curiosity as he moved over to his bedroom door to press his ear to the door's surface.

"... Frank I told you he'd get mad!" He heard his brother giggle. His brother _never_ giggled. And who the hell was Frank?

"That fucker had it coming; he shouldn't have stepped on my Spiderman figurine." He heard a second, unfamiliar voice.

Gerard was shocked. His brother, his _eleven_ -year-old brother had never been exposed to such crude language before. Gerard had, but he was three years older. That was okay. But he didn't think it was okay for some stranger (he assumed he didn't know this 'Frank'. He didn't recall knowing any Franks out of his social circle) to start swearing like it was the law or something.

So Gerard stormed out of his room making a bee-line for the front hallway, where he found his brother and a shorter dark haired boy he definitely didn't recognise. He approached them, puffing out his chest and setting himself into big-brother mode.

"Mikes?" Gerard got his brother's attention.

"Oh Gerard, this is Frank," Mikey grinned and grabbed Frank by the shoulders, nudging him towards his older brother.

"Hi," Frank said sounding completely uninterested and to be fair, he looked it too.

"Hi," Gerard said back carefully. He wasn't a great people-person. He then turned to his brother. "Mikey, if mom and dad hear that language they're gonna-" he half snapped, until he was interrupted by Frank.

"That was me," He said in the same tone. Gerard already knew it was Frank, but he was trying to be clever. Frank could see right through it. "It was Bob's fault with his clumsy feet. He stepped on Spiderman, he got punched."

Gerard blinked. "He got punched." he repeated, deadpan. Frank nodded.

"He chased us back here," Mikey piped up, sounding pretty damn excited about the whole ordeal. He peeked out of the window. "Oh, he's there now!"

Gerard looked over at the window and froze. There was a fuming kid stood at the pathway to their garden, blood dripping down his nose onto his blue shirt. His fists were balled up and Gerard was pretty sure he could see him shaking in fury.

"Mikey," Gerard squeaked "You didn't- why is he- god, what did you _do?_ " Gerard turned to Frank, face showing nothing but shock and slight fear. Frank's was just blank.  
He shrugged. "I told you I punched him."

"So now, what, he's here? Why did you come _here?_ " Gerard half-whined.

"He followed us..." Frank said slowly, making sure Gerard got the point as he stared at him disbelievingly.

Gerard swallowed thickly. "How old is, uh..."

"Bob." Mikey filled in.

"He's fifteen." Frank informed him.

Fifteen. That was one year older than Gerard, and any other kid older than him he was afraid of. That didn't mean Gerard wasn't scared of other kids younger than him, because his four-year-old cousin Johnny was pretty damn terrifying when he wanted to be i.e. The time he clawed Gerard's face as he was sleeping last summer when they stayed at Auntie Carol's in LA. He was lucky he wasn't permanently scarred.

But Frank had to be ten or something, possibly younger (he sure looked it) and he had no trouble in _punching_ this Bob kid. _Fifteen-year-old_ Bob. Damn.

And he was stood outside.

"Uh," Gerard squeaked and gulped.

Mikey looked at Gerard expectantly. "This is when you're supposed to tell him to go away,"

"What? Why?" Gerard couldn't stop his voice squeaking. He was going through puberty, after all.

Mikey shrugged. "You're my big brother."

Oh no. Oh _no._ Every time Mikey was in trouble, every time he wanted Gerard to sort out his mess, he would give him an adoring puppy dog look, (complete with the eyes and everything, gosh) and the full Big Brother speech.

"I thought you'd protect me-"

"Oh god." Gerard grumbled.

"- and what if one day I come back with a black eye, or, or, a broken arm, or worse! Dead!"

"You can't come back if you're _dead_ -"

"Mum would be really mad, and you would've let me down. And you would be grounded. Forever. And you'll be without a brother forever, but I bet you've always wanted to be an only child, though-

"Mikey stop-"

"- That's why you leave me to get beaten up by bullies, and to get killed-"

"Mikes-"

"- and one day when you get married and have babies they'll ask you, 'daddy why don't I have an uncle?' and-"

"Babies won't be able to speak that well," Gerard folded his arms over his chest.

"- _and_ you'll say, 'one day there was this mean bully called Bob and I didn't stick up for my brother so Bob beat him up and killed him b'-"

"Okay!" Gerard exclaimed. "I'll tell him to go away, _gosh_."

Mikey grinned. "Thank you Gerard, you're the best brother ever."

 _I know_ Gerard thought bitterly.

He walked out in to the front garden down the pathway as Mikey and Frank watched from the door and faced a livid Bob.

"Tell your dickweed brother and his dickweed friend they'd better never show their faces again or I'll pound them into the ground. _With my fists._ " Bob spat as Gerard was about to open his mouth. But he stopped and frowned.

"How did you know he's my brother?" Gerard cocked his head to the side.

"Because the blonde one ran in screaming 'I'm getting my big brother! I'm getting my brother on you!' " Bob said in his -Gerard assumed- voice impression of Mikey. And a very poor one at that.

"Okay, okay, look. I'm sorry Frank punched you, and I'm sorry my brother was a part of this, I'm sorry okay? Please can you like, make friends and forget about this?" Gerard spoke, hopeful.

Bob snorted. "Look, I don't take no shit, okay? And I just got punched. That Frank and your idiotic little brother-"

"Do not call my brother idiotic," Gerard warned and narrowed his eyes.

"What are you going to do about it?" Bob challenged him.

Gerard honestly did not know. He wasn't going to punch him, that's for sure. But no one bad mouths his brother.

He sighed. "Look. I'll tell the guys to stay away and not bother you, you just don't bother them, okay?"

And it was as easy as that. Just a little more persuading and Bob left with the promise that he wouldn't go near Frank or Mikey. And maybe Gerard had to bribe him with $15 which he reluctantly handed over.

But the bully was taken care of, Mikey was happy and Frank went home.

Frank stayed over at the Way's that weekend, and he got on Gerard's nerves like _hell._

He'd make this stupid beeping noise every time Gerard wanted to speak, he'd sit next to Gerard on the couch and press up really close completely unaware of personal space (and that made Gerard feel super uncomfortable) and when Gerard escaped the Frank and fled to his room, Frank would come walking in as Gerard was drawing.

"Whatcha got there?" Frank sat on the floor next to Gerard.

Gerard had just about enough of Frank.

"Go. Away." Gerard said through gritted teeth. He was done with being polite.

"Is that a vampire? What the fuck is that?" He pointed to one of Gerard's vampire victims on the page he was drawing in, completely ignoring Gerard. Gerard hated being asked about his drawings.

"Look, you're Mikey's friend and I don't get why he likes you, but he does. So can you not hang out with him? Please?" Gerard didn't want to plead, but he was so desperate for some alone time.

Frank shrugged. "You're more interesting." With that, Frank walked over to Gerard's bed and jumped on it, bouncing high up and down.

"What are you doing?" Gerard exclaimed and stood up. "Get off of my bed!"

"Make me," Frank stuck out his tongue.

"I'm not kidding, Frank, get down now."

"You sound like my mom. Maybe you are boring after all," Frank said whilst bouncing.

"Yes! I'm boring! Please leave, you've annoyed me enough tonight and I'm sick of you!" Gerard walked to his bed to reach out for Frank's leg and missed. Frank just giggled and bounced more.

Gerard got really _really_ mad. Fuck Frank. He was an asshole. Gerard lunged at him not willing to contain any more anger, knocking Frank off of the bed with a loud thud. "Asshole!" Gerard shouted.

Frank was about to laugh at Gerard in attempt to piss him off even further, until a familiar screech came from the doorway.

"Gerard!" An angry looking Mrs. Way was stood at Gerard's door, staring at her son and the poor little injured boy on the floor in shock.

And then, just like that, Frank burst into tears. Full-on wailing, face red and tears streaming down his face. Gerard stood there as shocked as his mother. He didn't hurt him that much, did he? He just fell. He couldn't have.

Mrs. Way helped Frank up and hugged him tightly. "It's okay, honey, I'm so so sorry about this. Go upstairs and play with Mikey, okay? I'll bring you ice cream."

Frank sniffed and wiped his puffy eyes, nodding.

"And you," She turned to point a finger at Gerard with a livid expression on her face "You are grounded. For two weeks."

"But-" Gerard tried to protest.

"Say another word and I'll make it a month." She warned him.

As she left the room with Frank, Frank made sure Mrs. Way wasn't looking as he looked back and grinned at Gerard.

_Grinned._

_Motherfucker._ Frank was a little fake, and oh, how Gerard hated him.

The trouble was, Frank visited the Way's as often as he could and nine times out of ten he would frame Gerard into something he didn't do, that being pushing Frank down the stairs (Frank actually threw himself down the stairs one time then blamed it on Gerard. It cost him two months of freedom) to stealing money.

Obviously, no one ever believed Gerard's protests.

And this carried on, month after month after month. It turned out that Frank was in the same year as Mikey, because Gerard had seen him around at school. There really was no escaping.

Frank was pretty popular in his year, whereas Gerard, not so much. So Frank would get him and his friends to tease and torment Gerard and it was pretty embarrassing given that they were all three years younger than him. Mikey would sometimes be there too. He wouldn't _do_ anything, no. Sometimes he'd look sorry for Gerard, but sometimes he'd laugh with them. Gerard felt like shit. His own brother wouldn't stick up for him when that was all what Gerard had been doing for Mikey all his life? Talk about betrayal.

Gerard had to put up with Frank and his little prat army for four whole years. It was torture. It would become worse and worse, Gerard had to take days off school it would get so bad. Mikey got ill a lot, so when Mikey wasn't in, Frank and his friends would follow Gerard home, tease him, shout abuse, trip him over into puddles and push him into bushes and it would go on, and on, and on.

 _Iero_ his friends would call Frank. That had to be his last name, he figured.

Frank was a smug little bastard and Gerard couldn't wait for graduation so that he could leave for College and never see his bratty little face again.

So where was Gerard now? He was twenty-five-years-old and working in Ray's Books bookstore as a clerk on a decent wage. It was better than nothing, he guessed. He lived in a moderate apartment on his own, and best of all, he hadn't heard from or seen Frank in seven years. He hadn't thought of the fucker for six of those, as time passed and his life gradually got better.

One Wednesday he turned up for work and was greeted with the usual scent of coffee (yeah, they had a freaking coffee machine at that place, pretty awesome, right?) and a friendly wave from Ray.

Gerard grabbed a cup of coffee and stood at his usual place behind the desk, he sipped his coffee and sighed in content. Some day Gerard was going to own his own bookstore and move a few ranks higher than a freaking bookstore clerk. Or even better, have his comics published at DC Comics. Yeah. Gerard drew comics. Not just that, but _wrote_ them too. He was going to be famous some day, hopefully. Probably. He had tons of finished and unfinished comics lying around in his room back in his apartment block. He just needed to finish a few of them off and pitch his ideas. He needed time, he needed confidence, he needed to be a whole new Gerard basically. It was going to be _hard._

So he was working a stable job with decent, flexible working hours. Not that he had much of a social life to work around, anyway. But free time was alone time, and alone time was nice.

Gerard was reading A View From The Bridge (don't judge, sometimes he liked a little playwright too,) when he heard the shrill bell of the shop's door open. The shop was in good business, so there were people coming in and leaving every so-often, so Gerard didn't bother taking his eyes from the book to see the customer.

He noticed that Ray had come out of the back room, (it was like his office, that guy was always taking phone calls and spending hours a day in there. He was a pretty mysterious dude) and greeted the customer.

Which Gerard noticed was pretty odd.

He heard cheerful banter and a few questions thrown across until Gerard saw Ray's afro bouncing towards him, followed by a cute tattooed punk kid.

"Gerard," Ray said "I told you last week that we were hiring again for open positions?"

Gerard nodded in confirmation.

"Say hello to our new clerk," Ray gestured to the kid stood behind him.

Other than the tattoos, clothing choices and hair, Gerard first noticed the big name tags all the employees had to wear, and there written in childlike handwritten font was 'Frank'.

Frank.

 _Frank._ Gerard didn't come across many Frank's lately, but that name always brought back horrible memories he would rather not relive - for obvious reasons.

"This is Frank, and he will be our secondary clerk as lately we've been pretty swamped, so for the next week he is going to be a trainee. Think of him as your apprentice," Ray grinned rather excitedly. Okay. Maybe Gerard was a little excited, too. He had never had an apprentice before. Did this mean he was going to get promoted soon? Hopefully. Ray couldn't fire him, anyway. They're too good friends and Gerard is excellent staff if he may say so himself.

"I'll leave you two to get acquainted, I have work to do. Don't worry Frank, Gerard will tell you everything if you have questions. He's great. Okay." Ray rushed off back to his office as he heard the phone starting to ring again.

Frank stood awkwardly for a few seconds, then held out his hand to Gerard. "So. Hi." He smiled as Gerard shook it.

"Hi, I'm uh, Gerard by the way." He released Frank's hand and wiped the bangs from his eyes so he could get a better look of the kid.

Frank stared for a while. "Huh." He said thoughtfully.

"What?" Gerard asked.

"Nothing." Frank thought for a while "You just remind me of someone." He shook his head and grinned.

And.

Oh god.

That was when it hit Gerard.

It couldn't be.

He wanted to cry.

Did the universe hate him or something?

That grin. Gerard fucking recognised that grin.

"Uh, do you mind me asking, what's your last name?" His voice cracked like he was going to cry. God, he hoped he wouldn't cry.

"Iero. Why? Is there a problem?" He frowned.

Gerard's heart stopped and he sat back down in his seat shaking slightly.

Frank opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself as he must've figured something out himself.

"Oh my god," He said with a tone of slight amusement in his voice. Gerard could hear his smile. Fuck his smile. "You're- You're Gerard Way, aren't you?" He let out a breathy laugh.

Gerard looked up at Frank and he felt _sick_. He nodded. Frank grinned. Gerard felt the room spin.

His life had just started to get good, why did it have to spiral downwards again?

"Man, It's good to see you." Frank laughed and clamped a hand over Gerard's shoulder.

Gerard wished he could say the same. _No._ Was all that was running through Gerard's mind. No no no no no no no no no nope. It couldn't be real. It really fucking couldn't. Maybe it was a different Frank Iero? Well, Frank recognized him. So. That probably wasn't the case.

Gerard couldn't speak, he could barely breathe. His throat was closed and dry, tongue swollen to a brisket, or so it felt like it. He was sweating, cold sweat, his skin tingling and hairs pricking up on his neck. He was shaking and twitching all over, upset, mad, scared. Almost spasming.

"Seven years," Frank sighed. "Wow. I've almost missed you man," He chuckled, patting Gerard over the back, maybe a little too hard.

Gerard spluttered. He felt his stomach churn at Frank's words and his overall presence. He still refused to believe that his childhood tormentor was here, right in front of him, in the same building, talking to him, looking at him, touching him, and was going to be working in the same place as him, and, and -- Gerard seriously thought he was going to go into shock. His vision went blurry and man, was he mad. Seriously fucking upset, but mad. All of these years had been Frank free, even when he was stuck jobless for a while living in a dumpy apartment only his cheap work art would pay for was still like a fairytale compared to any other time he could remember in his life, because, well. There was no Frank.

"Gerard? Dude?" he heard Frank's voice in his ears, hazy. Was be going to pass out? Shit, no. He couldn't. What if they took him to hospital and put him on a drip? Jabbing him with needles all over to pleasure their sadistic minds? But, he thought, would it be better than being stuck here with Frank? Like he turned off a switch all of a sudden, so did his head, because everything just went black.

 

"...he seemed fine when he came in this morning, just the usual Gerard, y'know?"

"I don't know man, he looked pretty pale to me,"

"Did he eat this morning? Because I know that can set people off but I don't know. Maybe he's one of those people who don't eat in the mornings anyway,"

"I'm not sure but he's pretty sick now so should we take him home or?"

"I'll give him the day off but someone needs to be out there pronto because I'm pretty sure Aurelia can't manage the whole shop by herself,"

Gerard was brought back to consciousness to two voices chatting amongst themselves, one of which he remembered hearing right before he passed out, and the other he recognised as Ray's. He couldn't even remember why or when he passed out, who the other voice belonged to or anything.

When he opened his eyes, everything was too bright, so he snapped them shut instatly. His head hurt and he was confused.

"Look, I'll see to him you go out and manage the shop," he heard the smile in the other's voice.

"Right, okay, good idea. You said you knew him, right? You were friends when you were younger?" There was a short pause. "Okay I'll go out and see if Aurelia's freaking out and help with stock."

Gerard heard the door opening and shutting and a shuffle from across the room to his side before he had enough will power to crack an eye open. He saw a pair of tattooed hands holding a copy of A View From The Bridge. Gerard recalls reading that earlier, too. He was pondering the identity of the owner's hands until they lowered the book and grinned right at Gerard.

Gerard siezed up, stopped breathing for a few seconds, heart stuttered and couldn't even move until Frank's grin turned into a smirk. Yes, his nightmares were real. It hadn't all been a dream to which he was hoping only to be. It was just his luck, if he had any.

"Gosh man, good to see you too," Frank said sarcastically, reading the horror on Gerard's face "don't worry, we're in Ray's office if you were wondering. You blacked out, what the hell? Are you really that starstruck to see me?" He gave Gerard a playful wink which made his skin crawl. He thought, anyway. He shuddered as the funny feeling passed through him. "This is good," Frank spoke after a few moments of silence, referring to the book in his hands. "Rodolfo's the villan. That bastard is slimy. You gonna ask me why I think that?" Gerard just fucking glared at Frank. Fuck Frank. Why was he speaking to Gerard like an old friend lost in time? Frank had always been _far_ from 'friend'. Gerard's head was all stuttering curse words.

"Man, slow down I can't keep up with you," Frank chuckled, words oozing sarcasm. "Well, I think Rodolfo was a manipulator of the mind. I think, that he would brainwash women, like he did with Catherine." Frank sat up. "Rodolfo came into her life and morphed it into his own little world in Catherine's head. There was no Marco, no Beatrice. Just Eddie, Catherine and Rodolfo. Of course, the whole play is about unrequited love and of course, Eddie loved Catherine, but Catherine loved Rodolfo. Rodolfo brainwashed her, turned her against Eddie; a lonely man whose only love in life was young Catherine. Her indifference towards him turned Eddie to suicide and Catherine dealt with the guilt by creating a whole story where Bea was Eddie's husband, aunt to Catherine and Marco came to America with his brother, Rodolfo, where he and Catherine fell in love and... Well, you know the rest. A blade took Eddie's life by the hands of Marco. But well, long story short, Rodolfo poisoned Catherine's mind and she damn well went pretty much insane yet was blinded by Rodolfo's lies. Blind trust, man. That's what I think" Frank shrugged, nodding with the words as he spoke.

If Gerard could find the urge to speak, he would tell Frank how ridiculous he was being. It was stupid... The whole play wasn't based off of that... Was it? Plus, Gerard was supposed to be the crazy creative imaginative one, not a stupid punk ass failure. Trust his old foe Jealousy to play a part now, it was just Gerard's luck.

"Dude seriously you're scaring me. I'm genuinely terrified. Should I like, call the ambulance or something? Have you forgotten how to speak?" He said all with a grin. A fucking shit eating grin plastered over his face. He wanted to stomp that grin right off of his little face with the bottom of his shoe, treading in parts of Frank along the floor as he walked. It took a while to realise that Gerard was shaking, from what, he wasn't so sure at first. It wasn't very cold in Ray's office.

Frank shrugged again, heavier this time, and sighed. "I get it. You're the quiet one and we never really got along much. I'm a joy to be around, one might say," he grinned again, showing all two sets of white teeth "but alright, whatever. I don't know what It'll take to get words out of you what-fucking-ever. Mikey was cool, he got me. You need a Mikey. Well, he's your brother but It's a shame he wasn't there for you much I guess when he should've been." Gerard couldn't remember a time when Frank wasn't talking. "how is little Mikey doing anyway? I haven't seen him for like, what is it now, two years? Yeah, holy hell that's gone by quick." Another pause. "Whatever man give me the silent treatment or... But you're awake, I have no other duties but to tend to the ones I'm being paid for, so books>Gerard in this case. They're crying for my attention. I'm sure, if you listen really closely, you can hear their little papery wails screaming, _Frank Fraaaaank, put us on shelves sort us alphabetically sell us read us help usss_ ," he giggled at himself, but that soon died down as he realised that Gerard wasn't joining in. Frank gave up. Fuck this. He set the book down and put his hands on his knees ready to get up. "Stay here and sulk all you want, Way. I'll tell Ray you're up." Dead silence. "No? Still nothing? Well, you've always been the weird one,"

And just like that, Gerard's mind was on red alert, his head snapped up as he gave Frank a seething death glare, upper lip twitching. All that sadness, all that sorrow and self hate was soon replaced with pure anger as his ears metaphorically steamed.

"What did you just say?" Gerard spat, quite surprised at hearing his own voice after not speaking for like a billion years.

Frank's eyes lit up like a kid's on Halloween after seeing buckets after buckets of chocolate. "His first words!" He gawped, feigning utter shock. But he can't say he wasn't a little surprised.

"What. Did you just say." He seethed through clenched teeth, sitting up from Ray's chairs that were used to make a cushiony bed seat for Gerard in his unconscious state.

Frank raised an eyebrow "What, Way?"

"Don't fucking challenge me, Iero," His voice still small but deadly all the while.

"You scared I'm gonna fuck up your life again?" He snorted "yes, I was aware. But man, you gotta stop living in the past. You're never gonna move forward now. I have a job, I have a fucking life. Do you really think I'm gonna waste my time on _you_ twenty-four-seven?" Okay, so the words still stung Gerard a little. He nodded nevertheless, if slightly unsure.

"It never stopped you before." He spoke in the same, low tone filled with hatred and despise.

Frank sighed, his smirk slowly fading to Gerard's delight. "Fuck you then. I was trying to make amends, bu-"

"Amends?" Gerard stood up suddenly, leaning over Frank menacingly. "You have not tried to make amends. You're still the same little shit I knew years ago and like hell have you changed, you're a plain dick and you haven't even said sorry yet!"

After a short pause, Frank got to his feet and stood to face Gerard, faces only inches apart. "Sorry." It was harsh sounding, but not bitter yet not sincere either.

Gerard could feel Frank's warm breath over his face, the smell of stale coffee coated with peppermint invading his nostrils. It was a nice smell but it belonged to Frank so it smelled like hell. Gerard inwardly cringed at the thought of liking anything of Frank's, even that be his breath. But no, he didn't like it. He couldn't like it.

Gerard had a whole fucking argument planned in his head ready to unload on Frank, but once-a-fucking-gain, he couldn't make words.

"Now if you don't mind, I have work to be getting back to and books to be tending to. I'll tell Ray you're up." Frank said in a slightly quieter voice, if timid. And with that, he had left the room, left Gerard alone to dwell in his anger. He let out a frustrated noise and hit his fist on Ray's desktop. _Fuck everything,_ he thought. Tears slipped down his face, tears of anger, sorrow or exhaustion but tears nonetheless. He slid down the wall and onto his knees feeling utterly worn out and defeated.


	2. Chapter 2

Ray gave Gerard the rest of the day off after Frank had left the room and Ray came in to see Gerard all watery eyed and puffy. Gerard was tired but he couldn't will himself to sleep. He was up all night processing things in his head, he found it hard to believe that what he considered to be his worst nightmare was back after seven years, alive and kicking and still getting off on tormenting Gerard. Did this mean that he had to get a new job? Move states? He knew he was being ridiculous, considering going extreme lengths to be away from Frank.

_Frank._

Gerard grimaced at the name in his head. He didn't like the way it sounded, how it looked or who it belonged to. He hated that every time he thought, saw or heard the name, Frank's face would appear in his head. He felt sick. He begrudgingly moved from his sofa to his bed at around 12:30am and collapsed from mental exhaustion and drifted to sleep.

 

His alarm woke him at 6:30am, usual time. He groaned and rose from his bed. He had to go into work today, he knew that, and he knew that Ray wouldn't give him another day off with pay. He skipped breakfast, he wasn't hungry. He was just dreading work for the first time in his life.

Upon his arrival, he saw Frank's head lift up to the sound of the shop bell ring as he pushed his way through the door. Frank was behind his desk. Looking through his things. Gerard felt a lump rise in his throat and if he knew how to get rid of it, he would have. He made his way over to his desk, Frank's eyes following him all the way. Gerard kept his head down. He saw his sketch book closed beneath Frank's hands and pulled it from under them avoiding any contact as he did so.

"I didn't look." He heard Frank say. His eyes flicked to Frank's and he saw that there was no smirk, no amused expression and no scowl. Gerard frowned. "I didn't look." Frank repeated looking at Gerard through half lidded eyes. He looked just about as worn out as Gerard, which couldn't be possible, but he knew how deceiving Frank could be so he brushed that thought aside.

Frank moved to the side to allow room for Gerard. Gerard noticed two seats. Were they going to work together? Like, _together_ together? He held his breath for a few seconds and placed his bag down beside his seat before he fell into it himself.

"So what're you drawing these days? Still vampires and stuff or have you moved on from that?" Frank spoke.

Gerard didn't look at Frank again, but at the sketch book still in his hands, thumbing the spine. He forgot to bring it home with him last night.

An uncomfortable silence fell between the two until Ray came through the door of his office "Hey Gerard, glad to see you're here on time, feeling better?" Gerard looked at Ray and nodded, forcing a smile. "Good," He said "It's Tuesday, you know what that means," Ray said with feigned dread in his voice.

"New deliveries." Gerard filled in.

"Right on, and I want you to show Frank the art of unpacking, stocking and sorting."

Gerard's eyebrows furrowed together "What? I thought that's what Aurelia usually does, don't I need to be... Here?" He gestured to his desk. He didn't want to do any sort of activity with Frank let alone be in the same room as him.

"She called, running late. Traffic. I'm expecting customers in the next half hour or so and there Isn't that much really. I'll hear when someone comes in plus, this would be a great opportunity to mentor Frank." Ray said with his signature grin.

Gerard reluctantly unpacked the boxes with Frank, telling him the difference between graphic novels and comic books and showing him where the Science-Fiction area, Romance, Action and Drama were to be put amongst other genres.

"This is the most you've spoken to me since yesterday," Frank pointed out, a light smirk playing on his lips.

Gerard closed his mouth and shrugged. The ring of the shop's bell signalling a new arrival sounded through the shop to reveal a familiar red headed woman. "Sorry I'm late!" Aurelia shouted presumably towards Ray's office "hey G-man," she greeted Gerard "hey... New guy," she directed towards Frank.

"Frank," He informed her.

"Of course, you told me yesterday, sorry I'm not brilliant on names," waving her hand in dismissal. "I see you two have started without me?"

Gerard looked at the several books left in the remaining box. "Yeah, Ray's orders."

"No problem, It's nice to slack off for a while and watch you guys work. What can I say, I'd procrastinate and hold it back 'till mid day or something anyway. You boys have saved me one hell of a job."

Gerard hunched his shoulders ever so slightly, feeling conscious of Frank's eyes on him. "Light load this week, only took about thirty minutes. I'm surprised Ray hasn't had your balls yet, late again, really?"

Aurelia picked up a stray book from the nearest table and plopped down into one of the plush chairs in the corner by Frank and Gerard "Pfft, I'm safe he's the least of my worries right now. Ray-Ray can't fire me anyway, he loves me too much. As do you Gee bear," she teased, reaching over to pinch his cheek in a playful manner to which Frank had to stifle a laugh.

The rest of the day went by pretty slowly. Four orders were made, fourteen customers, six stayers. They've had busier days. Gerard avoided Frank all day and Frank didn't attempt to make conversation any of the times they were in the same place or when they were behind _Gerard's_ desk and Gerard was doodling in his sketch pad (at an uncomfortable angle from blocking Frank's view of the pages).

Gerard wanted to let everything out that he'd been holding for over a decade to Frank and rip his head off during the process, but he couldn't find the right time. He decided it was best not to make a scene in the store in front of customers and co-workers. Besides, what would he say to Frank? "You're a douche, stay out of my life"? He could see _that_ going down well. He decided to try to give Frank the benefit of the doubt, though hard at times, and only speak to him upon order or question. He'd never start conversation or small talk, just give him the cold shoulder. He looked like an asshole in Ray's eyes, he knew that and he appreciated the fact that he didn't question it. Aurelia, however, one day on Frank's break when he'd gone out to get a coffee or a... sandwich, skipped over to Gerard twirling her fiery hair between her fingers and doing the what Gerard had identified as the 'I want something' or 'Tell me something' smile.

"Geeeeee," She carried out the 'ee' through a wide grin "what's your beef?"

Gerard looked up from his checklist "huh?"

"Come on you know what I'm saying," she snorted "what's your beef with ol' Frankenstein?"

 _Oh. That beef._ "I dunno," he shrugged, keeping his eyes fixed on the sheet in his hands, pretending to read it over.

She snorted "Dude I'm not fuckin' blind you've got beef and It's _bad_ beef and It's stinkin' up the place."

"It's nothing, I've got work to do," Gerard muttered, scanning the list for the twentieth time.

"Okay Mr. Work a Lot, stop having a staring contest with your rota and talk to me," she slapped at the slightly crumpled paper in his hands and he looked at her in annoyance "what is it? Is it 'cause he's cuter than you? Funnier than you?" She teased, Gerard maintained his glare "well whatever it is, It's compromising the workplace."

"You sound like Ray," Gerard grumbled and turned to walk to his desk "and it doesn't concern you."

Aurelia snickered "Like I'm gonna let this go. Come on, It's really starting to bum me out. He's a nice guy, you're a good guy-"

Gerard let out a loud whine like a child and sat in his seat. "If I tell you will you shut up?"  
  
"Pinky promise."

Gerard sighed loudly and put his face in his hands "I knew him when we were kids, he made my life a living hell,"

"You're dicking this guy because he was your childhood torture?"

"I'm not _done,_ " he rolled his eyes "he would do things, like he- he got me grounded countless times, I was bullied in school and my own _brother_ would take his side because he was his best friend or whatever, though I never saw the appeal. Trust me on this, he's bad news."

"How do you know he hasn't changed from, I don't know, how he was when he was six years old?" Aurelia pouted her lips in question.

"Okay for one, this carried out until the end of high school. He was old enough to know what he was doing and who he was hurting. I seriously doubt he's changed much, I mean just by looking at him, you can tell he's a snide, arrogant-"

The pair of them whipped their heads towards the door to the sound of the bell ringing signalling entrance. It was Frank, back with a half empty sandwich box. "You know what we could do with in here?" He spoke still chewing the lettuce hanging out of his mouth "a cafe or vending machine of sorts. The sandwich place two blocks over is the closest place from here that hasn't yet given me an upset stomach." He swiped the dressed lettuce from his chin with two digits.

 _Disgusting._ Gerard sighed and his gaze fell to his hands currently clasped in his lap.

"I miss anything good?" Frank looked between Aurelia and Gerard.

Aurelia shook her head, locks flying around her shoulders. "Nope, just discussing work... schedules. Yep, he gets an extra fifteen minute break than me. _Again._ It's not fair. I'll be having words with our Ray," she skipped off towards the Non-Fiction area of the store just around the corner throwing a "no fighting whilst I'm gone boys!" over her shoulder. Gerard could throttle her.

There had been too many uncomfortable silences between Frank and Gerard over the past week they'd been working together, but this one had to be the most uncomfortable one yet, as usually at least one of them had been doing something, but right now, Gerard's eyes were flickering elsewhere as he sat behind his desk idly, and Frank was still stood two feet from their now _shared_ desk with his coat on, playing with the plastic container in his hands. Loudly, much to Gerard's annoyance.

Gerard risked a few glances to Frank each time he was positive Frank wasn't looking his way. He studied the shadows cast on his face, looking younger in this light. It reminded him of their younger years. Hate and anger bubbled in his chest.

Eventually, after what felt like hours, Frank cleared his throat awkwardly in the silence and walked over to the bin near Ray's office to dump his plastic sandwich prism in before heading into the staff toilets without a word.

Gerard let go of the breath he never even knew he was holding.

Aurelia stuck her head from around the corner she had previously disappeared from. "Nothing?"

Gerard's head shot in her direction "You were listening?" he hissed.

"Well duh, if there was anything to listen _to._ " The rest of her body materialised as she walked from the corner wall and over to the bookshelves near Gerard's desk. "I was expecting an argument, a _scene,_ like 'i hate you!' 'i will destroy you!' guns blazin'! Then Ray would come storming out of his office to tear you two clawing kitties apart and make you kiss and make up." She sighed dramatically "Christmas is a mere three months away."

Gerard blinked. "You read way too many books."

"What do you expect?" She gestured around her "There's everything there! The drama, action, comedy, _romance,_ "

"I hate you"

"But you're just so _boring_ and high school. Let your... Anger and repressed feelings evolve. Work it out. Jeez." She took a dark green hard back from the shelf by her shoulder and flipped it open.

Gerard wasn't thinking that over. A few seconds passed before he asked quietly, "You really think he's cuter than me?"

He saw the happy glint in Aurelia's eye as she answered "Maybe. But I know that _I'd climb him,_ "

"You're gross goodbye," Gerard pressed his face into his hands.

Aurelia giggled and snapped the book shut in her hands, hopped over to his desk to bend down and whisper " _Like a tree_ "

He heard her skitter away into a fit of giggles as he pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes so hard he could see light spots, ignoring the fact that he was genuinely smiling, just a little, for the first time in days.

He knew she was right, though he would never admit it. They were so high school. That was the problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> insight on their ever-feuding relationship  
> Aurelia's my favourite already. She's like the lively Dean Winchester of the book club squad


End file.
